We’ve already commented on the good taste Aussie publishers Horwitz showed when selecting images for its Carter Brown covers. We found this 1954 edition of Murder! She Says! in the University of Queensland’s online Carter Brown archive, and the lovely woman on the front is British actress Joan Collins. Joan’s short-haired period didn’t last long—she had this boycut for just a few years—but it’s a very good look that obviously caught the eye of Horwitz editors.

The previous Horwitz celeb covers we showed you used actresses—Elke Sommer and Senta Berger—who were barely known at the time, which led us to believe their images were simply appropriated. But by 1954 Collins was already a legit star. That suggests official licensing, but what would have been the benefit for either Collins or the actual owners of the copyright, The Rank Organisation, and why would Horwitz pay money for the image then fail to even identify Collins as their cover star? Where’s the gain there? Why not just use a local model? Or maybe trademark infringement didn’t exist in 1954 the way we understand it today and they simply came across the photo and liked it. Anyway, it’s an interesting side note to a very eye-catching piece of art. See the other Horwitz ingénue covers here and here.

United States Marines invade Nicaragua to support the U.S.-backed government installed there after José Santos Zelaya had resigned three years earlier. American troops remain for eleven years.

1936—Last Public Execution in U.S.

Rainey Bethea, who had been convicted of rape and murder, is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in what is the last public execution performed in the United States.

1995—Mickey Mantle Dies

New York Yankees outfielder Mickey Mantle dies of complications from cancer, after receiving a liver transplant. He was one of the greatest baseball players ever, but he was also an alcoholic and played drunk, hungover, and unprepared. He once said about himself, "Sometimes I think if I had the same body and the same natural ability and someone else's brain, who knows how good a player I might have been."

1943—Philadelphia Experiment Allegedly Takes Place

The U.S. government is believed by some to have attempted to create a cloak of invisibility around the Navy ship USS Eldridge. The top secret event is known as the Philadelphia Experiment and, according to believers, ultimately leads to the accidental teleportation of an entire vessel.

1953—Soviets Detonate Deliverable Nuke

The Soviet Union detonates a nuclear weapon codenamed Reaktivnyi Dvigatel Stalina, aka Stalin's Jet Engine. In the U.S. the bomb is codenamed Joe 4. It is a small yield fission bomb rather than a multi-stage fusion weapon, but it makes up for its relative weakness by being fully deployable, meaning it can be dropped from a bomber.

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